Chapter 618: The Battle Situation

On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at the Central Cathedral of the Church of Fate, streams of bullets from all directions continuously bombarded the divine barrier surrounding the cathedral, interspersed with some rockets and recoilless shells. They triggered bursts of red light and huge shockwaves that radiated outward.

Bullets fired by high-level magic-energy professionals possessed immense kinetic energy, easily exceeding Mach 30, with strong penetrating power and lethality. The concussions they caused destroyed patches of trees around the cathedral.

In a magic tower at the highest point of the cathedral, the chairman of Manhattan's Magic Tower Committee, demigod mage Fer Houston, watched the scene below the magic tower array with a gaze mixed with emotion and indifference. Less than a minute after the battle began, he received a call from Manhattan Mayor Burt Barry.

"Fer, can you tell me what's happening on the Upper West Side? Someone has complained to me that the Church of Fate's cathedral was attacked but did not receive the protection it deserves from the magic tower array."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor," Fer Houston replied, his voice flat. "The magic tower array is currently experiencing some malfunctions and cannot function properly—"

"Bullshit! You're lying to me, Fer Houston! The magic tower array was repaired just two weeks ago! You liar, you've betrayed my trust!"

"This is the will of Her Highness!"

With just one short sentence, Fer Houston cut off the Manhattan mayor's words. "So, the magic tower array is indeed malfunctioning, Mr. Mayor."

"My God!"

The person on the other end of the phone seemed panicked and incoherent. "But the cathedral is a sacred area, and the Church of Fate is a legally registered church in the country. They pay the Magic Tower Committee an annuity of one billion gold shields each year and should be under the core protection of the magic tower array. Also, Fer, do you know how many people are attending mass inside the Cathedral of Fate right now? They are all elites from the upper echelons of the city, including my sister."

Fer Houston paused for a moment, then replied calmly, "I can only say I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. In this country, the will of Her Highness cannot be defied."

Then he hung up the phone and, with both hands radiating the light of magic energy, continued to manipulate the array.

At that moment, on his other side, one of his female disciples looked at him with a strange and uneasy gaze.

"Teacher, by doing this we will offend many people. At least thirty percent of the women in Manhattan's high society are followers of the Lord of Fate. And the more than two thousand people in that cathedral are mostly from the Upper West Side and Upper East Side. If—"

"So what? It was their own choice."

Fer Houston shook his head. "You know nothing of the power of the Statue of Liberty, Ruolin. In this country, her will is paramount. And now, Her Highness does not wish for the Lord of Fate's power to continue expanding, so they can only choose to lie low."

But just then, Fer Houston's eyes narrowed as he looked at a certain building in the southern part of the Upper West Side on the magical projection map.

Information about the building quickly flashed through his mind. It was originally a factory of Bernard Petrochemical Company, abandoned twenty years ago as Manhattan expanded, and converted into a storage center for the southern district.

The problem was that at this moment, a large number of powerful magic-energy reactions were appearing. Among them, there were over six hundred targets at the legendary level and above!

Almost immediately, Fer Houston began manipulating the magic tower to focus on the storage center. In the magical image, he first spotted a large number of magic-powered armors, and then, on the surface of these armors, he found the unique markings of the 'Rising Sun' Group and the 'Wiltonstein' Group.

These magic-powered armors were racing at their maximum speed toward the Cathedral of Fate, seven kilometers away.

This made Fer Houston involuntarily stand up, his pupils contracting slightly.

"Sky Knights from the Rising Sun Group, Heavenly Knights and Chosen Knights, over six hundred in total! My God, how can there be so many demigod-level magic-powered armors? Sixty-seven of them! And their divine-level combatants number twenty-six."

His disciple Ruolin was also shocked and puzzled. "What's going on? When did they get in? Bernard Petrochemical Company—isn't that a Rockefeller family property?"

That was the same question Fer Houston wanted to ask, but at this moment, his heart was filled more with unease and anxiety, even a hint of chill.

In the next instant, the magic tower flashed a red warning light. Fer Houston's mind tensed, but he was not surprised. He knew someone was interfering with the magic tower array.

The other party also had very high authority, at least at the level of vice chairman of the Magic Tower Array Committee. They had touched the core controls of the magic tower array from the start!

...

Inside the Baroque-style Cathedral of Fate, as the sound of shell explosions came from outside, Christi Barry let out another terrified scream. Her face was pale, her eyes panicked, feeling as if she had fallen into hell. The many women around Christi were in a similar state. Some even crawled under chairs, though they knew it was useless.

This situation made Christi deeply regretful. Today, out of curiosity, she had followed her aunt's family to attend mass at the Cathedral of Fate. It was said that priests would teach fitness exercises to maintain youth, vitality, and beauty. And if one was devout enough to the Lord of Fate, they might even receive divine favor. All this made it hard for her to suppress her curiosity, even going against her father's instructions.

But Christi had never imagined that her first participation in a mass of the Lord of Fate would involve such danger. She might even lose her life.

"My God! This is Manhattan, the Upper West Side! Are they crazy?"

Two steps away, Christi's aunt, thirty-five-year-old Grace Barry, remained relatively calm. She clasped her hands, continuing the gesture of prayer, while comforting her family.

"Don't worry, my children. There is an underground shelter here, very sturdy, unafraid of any evil. Our God is also very powerful! He has twice defeated Tyr and Ares, and once forced back the Lord of Radiance. And here, this cathedral is His sacred land; no evil or god can enter or defile it—"

These words did not reassure her daughters, at least not Christi. She heard the roar of the divine barrier being struck by countless bullets or shells, and the sound of the magic array outside shattering under heavy pressure.

As a graduate student in the history of theology, Christi also recognized that those attacking the Cathedral of Fate were singing war songs of Ares and the ancient Norse Vikings.

But Grace Barry's words were praised by a red-robed young man passing by. "Yes, Ms. Grace. This is my Lord's territory; no one can violate it. So, ladies, please do not panic. My Lord is the master of fate and time, the ruler from birth to death, the sovereign of the world's yin and yang, the god of invincible combat and war. He upholds equality and justice and protects all believers. Here, in my Lord's sanctuary, no one can offend His majesty, and no one can harm His believers!"

His divine power swept through the entire cathedral at that moment, instantly calming everyone's emotions.

Calming down, Christi realized this was a young cardinal. He was probably no older than twenty-five and very likely a member of the Wiltonstein family. He was very handsome, his facial features somewhat similar to those of Andre Lee Wiltonstein, often seen on TV before, with one red and one blue eye, very striking and uniquely charming.

That should be Louis Wiltonstein, the Archbishop of the Great Lakes Region and Cardinal of the Church of Fate stationed in Manhattan. She had heard his name mentioned at many social events recently.

But just as a blush spread across Christi's face, she heard a crisp 'rip' sound. Christi looked outside in shock; her bloodline's spiritual vision saw that the divine barrier outside the cathedral had been forcibly torn open by a giant axe.

With her emotions now stable, Christi was surprised to find that the cathedral was not protected by the magic tower array. But that shouldn't be—all legal churches were in the core protection sequence of each city's magic tower array, on the same level as the city government.

"No one can offend His majesty? No one can harm His believers? Are you joking with me, Louis of the Church of Fate?"

As the tear widened, a rough laugh came through. "Wait, at most a minute, and I'll crush His holy emblem and topple His statue. So tremble! Fear, believers of the Lord of Fate! The moment you decided to support that incompetent brat, your fate was sealed."

It was a massive mountain giant, two hundred meters tall. The axe he held had a blade one hundred and fifty meters wide. When this giant weapon, wrapped in black-yellow source energy, struck down, the entire cathedral and the earth trembled.

What terrified Christi even more was that behind this mountain giant stood more than a dozen mountain giants, all wielding giant hammers and axes, furiously attacking the divine barrier. They were generally two hundred meters tall, with god-like strength. The shockwaves and source energy tides they generated had already sunk the ground by over twenty meters.

In addition, there were at least eleven divine avatars—though they were only subordinate gods or valkyries of Ares or Odin, their divine radiance was very bright, and their attacks were not much weaker than those of lesser gods.

Christi could also be certain that among those attacking the church with various weapons, at least one-fifth were above legendary level, numbering at least two hundred!

Christi's mind was shaken. On one hand, she was amazed by the seemingly endless powerful divine power of the Lord of Fate; on the other, she grieved for her own fate.

She knew that the divine power displayed by the Lord of Fate was indeed very strong, especially in terms of 'quantity,' perhaps second only to the Lord of Radiance in the entire world. But Christi also knew that prolonged defense would lead to loss. If the Church of Fate could not produce enough holy warriors and priests to restrain the attackers outside, no matter how much divine power the Lord of Fate had, it could not guarantee safety here. After all, this was only His church, not His true divine kingdom!

What made Christi even more horrified was that although Louis Wiltonstein's expression seemed calm, a faint trace of blood had seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Was he unable to hold on? This scene made Christi Barry especially despair.

"You've done your best, Louis of the Church of Fate!"

The mountain giant outside laughed heartily. "But your Lord can no longer help you. Do you know? He is now leading all his mages to the Coral Sea, seeking to fight my Lord!"

Another heavy strike slammed into the divine barrier, like splitting wood, further widening the still-unhealed tear.

But before the ladies inside the Cathedral of Fate could scream again, the mountain giant was knocked back. A dazzling beam of light came from afar. A high-tech 'high-frequency vibrating particle knife' collided head-on with the giant's axe, not only repelling it but also cutting a huge gash in the one-hundred-fifty-meter-wide axe.

"A bit late, Lord Louis! The magic tower array took some time; we had to prevent that goddess's people on the Magic Tower Committee from doing anything more excessive."

The newcomer was a four-meter-tall magic-powered armor, the latest 'God-Approaching' armor 'Holy Warrior' from Light Magic Industries, and the voice belonged to Victor Maxim, one of the demigod security officers serving the Rising Sun Group.

Behind him were two energy streams like wings.

Louis Wiltonstein recognized that as the characteristic of an activated 'Divine Knight'! This allowed the man before him, with the divine domain amplification near the Cathedral of Fate, to overpower the ancient mountain giant.

"No need to apologize, Victor! I understand, to annihilate all these bastards and scum here."

Louis Wiltonstein's eyes now showed a fervor and battle intent completely different from his usual demeanor. "It would be an insult to me if you let these trash who dared to provoke my Lord escape!"

At this moment, his body was covered layer by layer with armor. A biological suit called 'Chosen Knight' also spread over his entire body. In his right hand, a sword condensed from divine power extended. Upon closer inspection, its style and patterns were identical to the Lord of Fate's 'Sword of Destiny.'

Then Louis Wiltonstein shot out like a meteor. His first sword slashed a huge gash in the neck of an ancient giant, nearly cutting off the hundred-meter giant's head.

Inside the cathedral, apart from eight priests who remained to support the divine barrier and eight holy warriors who believed in the Lord of Fate, the remaining clergy followed suit and charged out of the cathedral. They too wore biological suits and magic-powered armor, greatly enhancing their strength, and they held their own against the mountain giants and divine avatars.

Christi Barry watched in astonishment. She saw that not only the mountain giants but also the priest and warrior units of Ares, Tyr, and Odin in the distance were being completely suppressed. Magic-powered armor surged from all directions, forming an encirclement, with fierce fire support. Under the divine domain suppression of the Lord of Fate near the cathedral, they overwhelmed the enemy from the start, unable to raise their heads. The devastating bullets tore apart five divine avatars within seven seconds of opening fire.

The storm and force impact from the battle had already far exceeded the capacity of Manhattan's magic tower array.

Christi thought that fortunately, this was the sparsely populated Upper West Side, where, apart from two universities, the residents were wealthy or powerful. The buildings here also had the highest defense levels; otherwise, casualties would have been severe!

"So strong! I never knew the Wiltonstein Group had such power?"

Even her aunt, Grace Barry, looked strange. "Those armors are not the 'Holy Warriors' produced by Light Magic Industries."

Christi Barry also noticed this. Some of the demigod-level magic-powered armors were not the 'Holy Warriors' model that had shocked the world but were produced in limited quantities. Although slightly inferior in overall combat power, they were undoubtedly demigod-level magic-powered armors!

Her eyes grew serious, realizing that the world's格局 and balance of power might undergo a huge change after this.

...

A short time later, in Sydney, outside the main temple of Ares, the God of War.

Roberta Yvonne, known as the 'Battle Angel,' spread her divine light wings and descended a kilometer from the massive hall.

Her arrival caused great panic inside the temple. Even Ares' purple-robed High Priest Dode Kramerson looked grimly at the scene outside.

This man had several wounds on his body, and his robes were already stained red with his blood. His aura was also relatively weak, relying on medicine and the power of this temple to recover. The war god Ares also held the divine office of 'Battle Continuation,' which allowed him to recover from his injuries to a limited extent.

Yet in the eyes of Dode Clemerson, a hint of despair had already appeared.

Just now, their joint attack with Odin's priests and paladins on the Cathedral of Fate had suffered a disastrous defeat. It was a complete trap, with forces equivalent to two War Temple legions lying in ambush nearby, and far more demigod armor than they had estimated.

Thus, in less than fifteen minutes, Ares alone had lost one hundred and sixty-five legendary warriors and twenty-two demigods. And their original plan to use numerical superiority to surround and kill Robert Yvonne was simply laughable.

No one could stop that 'Battle Angel,' that war god's maid, as she slaughtered all the giants with effortless grace—including Titans, Hill Giants, Hecatoncheires, Jotuns, and other giant types, a total of thirty-two giants, and the divine avatars of six gods fell beneath her sword. Then she swept through nearly a quarter of their Templars with overwhelming force.

This dealt a devastating blow to their Australian paladins and white-robed high priests—a large portion of whom came from the Old Continent. As a result, in this main temple, including himself, there were only seven clergy above legendary rank stationed here; their strength had been weakened to the extreme.

"I don't understand why? Odin's church is clearly closer to the Cathedral of Fate! Damn it, their casualties are even higher than ours—"

A legendary paladin nearby was grumbling, but Dode Clemerson couldn't be bothered to respond.

Odin's warriors and priests had indeed suffered heavy losses. But the other side's actions were clearly deliberate!

Dode Clemerson could no longer care about these things. He was now frantically racking his brains, thinking about how to preserve this main temple, his god, and the glory of Ares, the god of war and kingship!

Yet the faster his thoughts raced, the more despair Dode felt. He realized this was a dead end; this great temple in Sydney could not escape being razed to the ground no matter what. Everyone here would also face death.

Meanwhile, Robert Yvonne's 'Fang of the Wind God' had already gathered powerful storms and lightning.

This divine armament had been greatly strengthened by her master, reaching the level of Divine Grade Ten, and had truly condensed the initial divine authority of 'Enslavement.' The souls bound within the sword were no longer demigods and legends, but a combination of one high god and twelve intermediate gods.

Three years ago, Li Mochen had taken her to travel the outer realms, collecting materials to make an 'external elixir' for Angela, and also allowed her to extract the souls and power of those powerful elemental gods. Among them were a high wind elemental emperor and an intermediate thunder elemental emperor, which elevated the power of her 'Fang of the Wind God' to the extreme.

Although this was only a high-level divine armament of Divine Grade Ten, its power, like the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor,' was already comparable to that of a powerful-grade divine armament.

Not far from her, a middle-aged man in a suit was anxiously trying to dissuade her.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Lord Ares's main temple in Sydney is a landmark building of Sydney. It is the finest work of our country's architectural master Rod Bank in the 36th century. You cannot treat it like this. Moreover, this is Ares's temple, his divine territory. Your war will destroy the entire city of Sydney."

Robert Yvonne naturally ignored the mayor of Sydney. It was the divine avatar of the strategic god Garcia Ferren, who was in charge of overall command, who responded.

"Since this war has already begun, we cannot avoid counterattacking, Mr. Rodria."

Garcia smiled slightly, a hint of sarcasm in his expression: "Rest assured, the battle is expected to be very brief. I personally guarantee that the subsequent fighting will not cause further damage to Sydney."

Rodria's face turned pale: "But so far, no religious building of the level of a main temple or cathedral has ever been destroyed in all of Australia."

"Then now there will be. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—this is my lord's will!"

Garcia Ferren glanced sideways at him: "You should not have said that to Ares. I am truly curious how much the Australian political circle underestimates my lord. Was asking for help from the Church of Fate merely due to the will of the Goddess of Liberty?"

"You must have misunderstood; the situation is not as you think."

Rodria's forehead was already beaded with cold sweat: "It was just that the incident was sudden, and I had no time to communicate with the priests of those honored gods. In fact, at least three of my relatives are now believers of the Fate Master. And I myself am a follower of the Radiant Lord. Of course, I have always held extraordinary respect for the Fate Master."

"I see it as the Goddess of Liberty, right? Many people in Australia do this—outwardly followers of the Radiant God, but in essence supporters of the Goddess of Liberty."

A flash of cold murderous intent passed through the eyes of the strategic god Garcia Ferren, but he then restrained it: "Step back, Mayor. If the hundreds of legendary and demigod corpses outside the Cathedral of Fate are not enough to shut you up, then at this moment, the fact that the priests and paladins of the Olympian pantheon have not appeared—isn't that enough to explain the problem?"

The mayor of Sydney's body trembled slightly, and an expression of disbelief appeared in his eyes.

Garcia Ferren continued in a leisurely tone: "Considering that Sydney's magic tower array did not take sides, and that your family indeed has devout followers of my lord, I will not pursue your disrespect toward my lord. But I hope you will correctly recognize from now on that times have changed, and Australia is no longer what it was before! My lord's radiance will surely shine here, and all old gods and their followers must keep their distance!"

"I hope you will initiate a motion in your city council to declare the faiths of the Olympian gods and the Aesir illegal. That is the only way to protect your country, Rodria—"

At that moment, Robert Yvonne's 'Fang of the Wind God' had already swept toward the great temple of Ares, wrapped in extremely fierce 'wind' and lightning filling the sky.

With a sound like torn, worn-out leather, the divine power shield outside the great war temple was instantly torn apart by the 'Fang of the Wind God.' The fierce wind and the lightning filling the sky still maintained their peak momentum, slashing down toward the temple.

But in the next instant, a figure wrapped in golden light appeared above the temple.

—It was a divine avatar of Ares, holding a flame spear, exerting all his strength to shred the wind and thunder. Then, under the pressure and strike of the source power on the 'Fang of the Wind God,' he retreated ten meters, barely standing on the steps in front of the temple.

"Filthy mortals! How dare you invade my divine territory—"

But the war god's words were soon drowned out by projectiles fired from all directions.

Ares clearly also mastered powerful divine authorities of space and time. With the help of this great temple, he was able to manifest power far beyond a normal avatar—enough to rival a high god with a divine rank of twelve! He was desperately twisting the space-time around him, preventing those magical ammunition from hitting his body. But the three cardinals of the Church of Fate appearing in the distance thwarted his attempt.

The Fate Master simultaneously held 'Fate' and 'Time Sequence,' as well as the dark and light sides of the world. Although he had not descended here, the power he provided to his chosen ones was enough to restrain part of Ares's power.

More crucially was the divine authority of 'Equality,' which instantly pulled the power of this war god's avatar to the same level as the three cardinals!

And those special bullets fired by powerful 'Heavenly Knights,' or even stronger 'Destined Knights' and 'Divine Knights,' under the guidance of 'Fate,' themselves had the ability to break through time sequence and space.

Under the barrage of these bullets, Ares's divine body was soon riddled with holes. And the several subordinate gods who appeared behind him, even those who had just condensed their divine bodies, were torn apart by the dense stream of projectiles!

Then the second sword of the 'Battle Angel' Robert Yvonne completely shattered Ares's divine avatar and carved a huge gash into the magnificent, elegant temple behind him.

"In this world, the one worthy of being called the God of War is only my lord!"

She looked down at the people inside the war temple with lightning-filled eyes. Then countless thunder and wind burst forth from her body, sweeping everything, annihilating everything!

...

Coral Sea, dragon-headed warship 'Might.' With Odin's main divine body descending into the main world, this warship had become his flagship.

But at this moment, countless pieces of bad news that soured Odin's mood were reaching him through the Valkyries serving before him.

"Your Majesty, Manhattan has managed to break out, but in this battle, we lost seventy legends, six demigods, and thirteen hill giants. The ancient hill giant Chapman is severely injured—"

"The Atlanta direction was almost completely annihilated. Your Second Paladin Corps, nearly two hundred legendary paladins, none survived. The Fate Master holds the ultimate authority of death; we could not retrieve their souls."

"Hazel Wiltonshire's combat power is very surprising. Her bloodline is suspected to have entered the 'Progenitor' rank. She wields powerful divine armaments, high-rank ice, fire, curse, and disaster divine authorities, and divine-grade bio-augmentation. Her power can even fight head-on with a powerful god. Our god of steel, Isbell, is no match for her. Additionally, there is a woman with high ancient god combat power, and the Fate Master's pet, that netherfire dragon, is helping her."

"The key is that the force Wiltonshire left in Atlanta is especially strong! Sixteen hundred legends, one hundred and thirty demigods—this is equivalent to four of our legions, or a quarter of an angel legion. It was still a trap! The Fate Master's divine power of fate obscured our perception of danger."

"Your Majesty, according to current statistics, all our temples on the southern coast of America have been destroyed. It must be emphasized that this includes all temples and shrines belonging to the Aesir pantheon! Their actions were very swift, with ample manpower, accomplishing this feat in just half an hour. I suspect that the Fate Master has at least the strength of one angel legion under his command. It is expected that their cleansing will spread to several nearby states."

"Including the Olympian pantheon?"

Odin propped his cheek with his hand, staring with a cold gaze into the distance at the massive magical array composed of forty-nine magic towers.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The Valkyrie Alvitr, who held the divine authorities of 'Intelligence' and 'Omniscience on the Battlefield,' bowed deeply to Odin: "The losses of the Olympian pantheon now exceed ours. Especially Ares—his main temples in Australia and Los Angeles have been destroyed. As for the sun god Apollo, Manhattan is still in fierce battle, but I estimate their chances of holding it are slim. Due to the Radiant Lord, Apollo's true form dares not enter this world."

At this point, Alvitr hesitated slightly: "Your Majesty, the Fate Master is clearly trying to sow discord between you and Ares, to undermine Ares's resolve and will to enter the decisive battle!"

Climax 9K, begging for monthly tickets!

Too miserable, ranked around 190 on the monthly ticket list—this is the lowest ranking I've ever gotten. Begging for monthly tickets! Begging for subscriptions!

If you readers feel the recent plot is still enjoyable and exciting, please help me get a full subscription, and also give me some monthly tickets!